If you do not spend your working day at your first place of work, you are entitled to additional expenses for meals (Verpflegungsmehraufwand). We explain which flat rates apply and how you can enter them in the Taxfix app.

Content:

• When do I have additional expenses for meals?
• What are the lump sums for meals?
• Additional expenses for meals abroad
• Example: Calculation of your additional expenses for meals
• This is how you enter your additional meal expenses in the Taxfix app

When do I have additional expenses for meals?

When you are on business trips or in the field, you usually have higher expenses for your meals: Since you are not at home, you are more likely to go to a restaurant or order food to your hotel room.

The higher expenses for your meals are often reimbursed directly by your employer tax-free in full or on a pro-rata basis, e.g. through free meals or through the payment of the flat-rate meal allowance.

If your employer has already paid the costs for your meals in full, you cannot deduct them.

If your costs have not been reimbursed or have not been reimbursed in full, you can claim them as income-related expenses. There are certain lump sums that you can deduct.

What are the lump sums for meals?

Depending on the length of time you spend away from home, there are different flat rates for additional subsistence expenses. In Germany, the following amounts apply:

Additional expenses for meals abroad

If you have to go abroad for an external activity, the amount of the per diem for meals depends on the country. In addition, the flat rates for additional meal expenses also vary within countries. For example, they are often higher in large cities than in the rest of the country, as city trips are usually associated with higher travel costs.

In the context of business trips, the Taxfix app therefore precisely queries the destination of your trip and automatically takes the applicable per diems into account.

Example: Calculation of your additional expenses for meals

You calculate your additional expenses for meals on the basis of the duration of your business or field trip. In the Taxfix app, you do not have to calculate the amounts yourself, but only record your absences.

For a 1-day absence of more than 8 hours

For example, you are out in the field for a day or attend a professional training course and are not at home or with your employer for more than 8 hours. In this case, you are absent for more than 8 hours and can claim 14 euros

For a 2-day absence

For example, you are on a short 2-day business trip. You arrive on day 1, stay overnight and leave on day 2. In this case, you have one day of arrival and one day of departure and can deduct 14 euros each and a total of 28 euros

For a 3-day absence

For example, you are away on business for 3 days. Day 1 is your arrival day. You stay overnight and are on site for a full 24 hours on day 2. On day 3 you leave again, this is your departure day. You can therefore claim flat rates for one day of arrival (14 euros), one day of 24 hours (28 euros) and one day of departure (14 euros), i.e. a total of 56 euros.

This is how you enter your additional meal expenses in the Taxfix app

You can enter additional expenses for meals in the Taxfix app in the category "Work" in various places.

When specifying your commute to work within Germany

Additional meals expenses can be recorded when specifying your way to work if you select one of the following options when asked about your place of work:

• "Meeting point"
• "Large area"
• "External workplace"

After you have specified your commute, you have the option to record your absences and possible reimbursements by the employer:

• First determine the type of absences. Here you can choose several options, for example, for several days in the field
• Enter the number of absences
• Finally, enter reimbursements by the employer, if applicable. This is only necessary at this point if the reimbursements are not noted in your annual payslip. Otherwise, the reimbursements are simply entered on your annual payslip in the "Income" category

Based on your information, the Taxfix app automatically takes into account the applicable per diems for meals.

In the context of business trips at home and abroad

If you were on a business trip and incurred expenses that were not reimbursed by your employer, you can deduct your expenses.

The Taxfix app asks for business trips separately. You can record the number of trips you made in the tax year and the costs for each business trip separately.

Here you can also specify the destination of your trip and the time period. This information is necessary to correctly determine the per diems for meals. They are automatically taken into account.

In the further course of the questions, you can enter costs for tickets, for overnight stays for trips lasting several days, additional travel costs and reimbursements by the employer.